NearPlayIn short: NearPlay has no servers, accounts, ads or analytics. Your data never leaves your phone except to the phones you play with, and the developer receives none of it unless you write to them.
Who is responsible
NearPlay is an app published on Google Play by the developer NearPlay. For any privacy question, write to [email protected].
What data the app uses
- Your name and your avatar. You choose them and they are stored only on your phone. When you join a room, they are sent to the phones in that room so the other players can see you.
- The game. Moves and the state of the board travel only between the phones in the room while you play. They are not kept once the game ends.
- Your game history. When a game ends, the app notes a summary on your phone: the game, the date, how long it lasted, the result and the names and avatars of the players. It keeps only the last 20, it stays only on your phone (it isn’t sent to anyone) and you can delete it from Your profile → History → “Clear history” or by uninstalling the app.
- Your achievements. To know which achievements you have unlocked, the app keeps some counters of your games on your phone (how many you have played and won, in which mode and in which games) and the date of each achievement. They stay only on your phone (they aren’t sent to anyone) and are deleted when you uninstall the app.
- Your favorite games. The games you mark with the star are stored only on your phone (they aren’t sent to anyone). You can remove them with the same star or by uninstalling the app. “Played recently” comes from your game history and is emptied when you clear it.
- Session identifiers. They are random, created for each room and not stored. They can’t be used to identify you or your phone.
NearPlay doesn’t collect your location, contacts, photos or any other data from your phone, and it doesn’t send anything to the Internet on its own: the connection is direct between nearby phones.
Permissions
- Nearby devices (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi). To create rooms, find them and connect with the phones near you.
- Location. Android requires it to search for devices over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on Android 12 and earlier, and some newer phones do too. NearPlay doesn’t read, store or send your location. It only asks for it when you create or search for a room, never in the background.
- Network state and access. They are declared by the platform the app is built with and by the phone-to-phone connection service. NearPlay doesn’t connect to any server; checking for new versions is done by Google Play.
- Vibration. So your phone vibrates when it’s your turn, when the game ends or if a move isn’t allowed. Android doesn’t ask you for it, and you can turn it off in Your profile → Sound and vibration.
You can revoke any permission in Android’s settings. Without them you can still play against the machine.
Third-party services
The connection between phones uses Nearby Connections, which is part of the Google Play services installed on your phone. Those services are managed by Google under its privacy policy. Nearby Connections connections are encrypted and are only established when both players confirm the same code.
When you open the app, NearPlay asks Google Play (the store installed on your phone) whether there is a new version. That check is made by Google Play, just as when it looks for updates in the store; NearPlay doesn’t send it any of your data. If you agree to update, Google Play downloads and installs the new version.
Google Play, where you install the app from, gives the developer aggregated install statistics and, if you have allowed it on your phone, crash reports that don’t identify you.
Who it is shared with
Nobody but the players in your room, and only your name, your avatar and the game. NearPlay doesn’t sell or hand over data to third parties.
If you tap Share result at the end of a game, the app creates an image of the result on your phone (the game, the final board and each player’s name, avatar and wins) and opens Android’s share menu. The image only goes to the app you choose, and from then on that app handles it under its own terms. NearPlay doesn’t send it anywhere on its own; it keeps it in the phone’s cache, which Android empties when it needs to. Before sharing other players’ names, make sure they’re happy with it.
If you write to us
On the Home screen, Feedback opens your email app with a message to the developer, with the NearPlay version and the system (for example, Android) already filled in. You send the message yourself from your email, and only if you want to. If you send it, the developer receives your email address and whatever you wrote, and only uses them to read your suggestion and reply to you. You can ask for them to be deleted by writing to the same address.
How long it is kept
Your name and avatar stay on your phone until you change them, clear the app’s data or uninstall it. If you have Android backup turned on, the system may include them in your Google account’s backup. Everything else disappears when the room closes.
Children
NearPlay doesn’t collect personal data from anyone, including children.
Your rights
Apart from the emails you send, the developer doesn’t keep any of your data, so there’s nothing else to access, correct or delete outside your phone. Even so, you can write to the contact address with any question or to exercise your rights.
Changes
If this policy changes, it will be published at this same address with a new effective date.